Rudders Part2

Still too cold for epoxy work. Just as well I still have wood work to do.
Once out of the jig the rudders need to be closed top and bottom and shaped at the edges. I marked out the radius' and cut with a jigsaw. It was nice to get the radius shape onto the rudders, they quickly resmbled the drawings I had spent so long pondering.

Here you can see one method I used for holding ply in place while the glue cures. Screwed at the top and bungied at the thin trailing edge.

Here are the two rudders with tops closed prior to shaping. I closed the bottom of the rudders with two 4mm pieces to give 8mm thickness, I also plan to add extra filler and glass on the bottom where grounding may occur.

Here is a rudder and the trusty shaping tool almost ready for final sanding before glassing begins.

Making Rudders

The rudders are clamped while the epoxy cures.

Layers of UD carbon are used to add strength. I like the light weight result of Bernd's rudder design, it is quite tricky to do though as once you start applying glue/resin the clock is ticking, the picture above is of the second rudder which I was more happy with. The first one took me 2 attempts to get right as the plywood did not bend as easily as expected.

Rudder jig

Here is the rudder jig.

Constructed from some ply and cedar wood I had spare, which I cut using a bench saw. The purpose of this is to keep the sides of the ply panels aligned while the epoxy cures at the leading edge of the rudder

First Post

Here is the first sheet of ply which will become the rudders. It is 4mm Gaboon, seen here the first coat of epoxy has been applied.